Women Deserve Viet Memorial

May 28, 1986

IT IS USUAL, when talking about those who served the U.S. armed forces in the Vietnam War, to refer to ``our boys`` or ``our young men.`` Even President Reagan, in his Memorial Day speech, called them ``the boys of Vietnam.``

But it`s important for Americans to understand that not all Vietnam veterans, and not all those who died for their country in that war, were male.

In fact, more than 10,000 women veterans served in Vietnam, 7,000 as nurses, and eight of them died there.

Now, more than 13 years after the war ended, some women nurses who served the military in Vietnam are trying to get some long-overdue recognition for their accomplishments and their sacrifices.

It is not enough, they say, that the eight names of the dead women are inscribed, along with those of 58,124 men, on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington.

They complain that the statues of the three infantrymen near the memorial support the widespread impression that it was a male-only event. They are proposing that another statue be added, of a female Army nurse holding her helmet, to accompany those of the men.

The idea deserves strong public and political support. Congress ought to approve the idea for the statue, and the public should donate the estimated $1 million price for the bronze statue.

Erecting this statue is part of a long-term effort to raise public consciousness about the value of ``woman`s work`` and the often-forgotten role women have played in history. Women have not only accompanied men into battle as nurses, they have also served alongside them as warriors and even sometimes led men into battle as military commanders.

One of the women organizing the statue campaign says she and other female Vietnam veterans need the statue as a rallying point and source of healing for the delayed combat stress and other emotional traumas they are suffering, just like their male colleagues.

The statue will not only serve as a tribute to those women who served in Vietnam, but to all women serving in America`s armed forces, past, present and future.